I saw this heretical garbage the other day.

“(1) I see a different interpretation of scripture. Anxiety is a God given emotion. It is useful. It can keep us physically safe and can drive us to God. (2) Jesus had so much anxiety in the Garden of Gethsemane that he sweat blood. Jesus didn’t try sweep away his anxiety, Jesus didn’t blame his anxiety on the enemy, he accepted it and endured it and went to God in prayer – (3) not to get help with anxiety, but to get help with the cause of the anxiety. (4) The Bible never promises prosperity in this life. (5) It does say that we will have trouble and that we should consider our struggles joy. (6) I think accepting our anxiety and learning to live with it while we walk with God will bring about (7) character development and the deepening of our faith.”

I added the numbers to make this easy to follow.

1. The author says if God gives something, then it is helpful to bring us to God. The unspoken premise here is about ethics. If God cause this “x” type of metaphysics, and x type of metaphysics leads us to God, then we “ought” (ethic) to embrace x type of metaphysics.

This is blasphemy. Ethics is only produced by the commands and precepts of God. Any deviation from this is irrational and human speculation. What God creates or causes is not an ethic. If God causes the prophet to give a false prophecy (Ezekiel 14:9) this causation does not make a false prophecy ethically good. A false prophecy is always wrong because God commands man not to give false prophecy. Ethics is produced by God’s command and nothing else.

Also, to go from metaphysics (God created this or caused this) to metamorphic into an ethic, is no less irrational than saying 5s are blue and 8s are slow. It is a category fallacy. A mind can no less comprehend “5 blues” as they can, “God caused x, therefore ethic.” This is how man invents ethics so that they can reject God. Non-Christians do this for obvious reasons; however, so-called Christians to this so that they can look pious as they throw their middle finger at God.

We are commanded to only fear God. We are to feel anxiety, fear and shame if we rebel against God. It is good feel afraid if you do not fear God. This is the only fear we are allowed by the commands of God to experience. Every other anxiety and fear is breaking God’s command. WE are not to feel anxiety or worry about man, money, our health, relationships and the future (etc.) We are to overcome them in faith, joy and righteousness.

(2) Jesus experienced anxiety leading up to the cross, because He was a condemned man, without hope facing God’s punishment. He should never have known this. He experienced it for our sakes, not His. He is experiencing what it means to face the wrath of God, with no way out. This is what we should have experienced. Jesus experienced this, in our place so that we do NOT experience it. Thus, to use this to say we ought to experience anxiety, is to trample on the suffering of Jesus as a worthless thing, in that even the things Jesus substituted for us, we still must go through them ourselves.

(3) This makes no sense? If you get rid of the thing that is causing anxiety, then you get rid of the anxiety. Thus, you get rid of the anxiety. When a person wants to get rid of anxiety, they will directly seek the cause (to get rid of it), with the goal that it will get rid of the anxiety.  Thus, to seek the cause, is (in relation of the person’s goal) seeking to get rid of the anxiety. Why do I need to say this to adults, as if they don’t know this?

(4) This point has no rational connection to the previous 3 points. Also, it is blandly false. There are many such promises, but we will deal with one that is directly tired to the gospel. Paul says in 2 Corinthians that Jesus suffered poverty in our place so that we experience His wealth. It is said to Christians, who Paul was asking for an offering . You cannot spiritualize this away. This statement is mocking the gospel and blood of Jesus Christ.

(5) This statement is true as far as it goes. The bible does make a distinction between common everyday troubles, such as money, health and relationships, and the other category of troubles directly related to persecution for the gospel’s sake. With the first type of troubles we are commanded to be victorious through faith in God’s promise.

(6) The implied connection here, from point 5, is irrational. The author without warrant, manufactured out of nothing that “anxiety” is part of the troubles that God supposedly gives us. After this, the irrational transformation of an ethic from metaphysics comes up again: therefore we ought to embrace anxiety from God as a good thing. Demonic.

(7) Character development is not produced by anxiety. The bible never says this. It comes from inner growth and strength. This is produced by the renewing of the mind. Experience, is the worse teacher there is. God’s word, is however, the only good teacher. Experiences do not give better character, rather is the word of God and faith that gives better character as we seek Him and His promises when we are troubled.

As for faith, the bible explicitly says faith comes by hearing the word of God, and not something else.